Monday, January 31, 2011

Sometimes there is drama right outside your window. If you don't look out, you don't see it. That happened the other day, so I'm giving you this report second hand.

Out here among the moored boats, close to Tarwathie, a man fell out of his dinghy. Evidently, he wasn't using the dead-man safety switch that all modern outboards have. The usual arrangement is for the switch to be connected to a cord that you wear around your wrist. If you fall out of the boat, it yanks the cord which stops the outboard motor right away.

A long time ago, in my high school years, my next door neighbor and friend Lindy, had such an accident. Back then there was no such thing as dead-man switches on outboards. Lindy was alone in the boat. He fell in the water. The boat continued at high speed going around in circles. Three times as the boat approached, Lindy dove deep and escaped. The fourth time it got him. Lindy's injuries were very severe. In essence, it chewed one of his legs to hamburger. I'll never forget what happened to him.

This time, in Boot Key Harbor, there were no injuries to the swimming man. There was a time however while a dozen or more skippers in the harbor watched and wondered who and how the runaway dinghy would be stopped. Finally, one of them jumped in his own dinghy and chased it down just like a rodeo cowboy roping a calf.

Me? I was on board and nearby, but perhaps I was napping. I never heard or saw a thing.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Florida Keys, and especially Key West, are famous for their spectacular sunsets. It's a lovely part of the day here in winter to sit out in the cockpit and watch the sun go down.

It is also a keys and a Bahamaian tradition to blow a single blast on your conch shell horn at sunset.

Tonight, I was first off the mark. I blew when the half the sun disappeared below the horizon. That started a chorus of other blasts from around the harbor -- perhaps two dozen all told.

Some people are more accomplished at conch blowing than others (including me). I'm judging quality by the volume and duration of the blast. All modesty aside, while I'm not good at it I am getting better.

Few or none of them are able to get the modulation and note playing as the lock tender Robert at Deep Creek, VA. Robert told me part of the secret is to find a smaller shell with thinner walls. I'm going to try to find one.

Here in Marathon, there is a man who lives in one of the harbor-side apartments. He comes out on his balcony and fires a cannon, then he plays taps on a loud speaker. I always visualized him as a retired Marine general, or the ghost of General Patton. He used to do it every night, but not it's only occasional.

Newcomers don't always get the point. A few days ago, I overheard a woman on a nearby boat remark the first time she heard the sunset seranade. She said, "Is it happy hour?"

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Monday and Tuesday nights we watched a seminar on marine weather theory. I say we, because I shared the experience with four other captains. The seminar (or webinar as they call it) was taught by Chris Parker over the Internet.

I suppose that the technology was impressive. We could see and hear Chris in his home talking to us on a boat with a wireless connection. At the same time about 4 dozen people from who-knows-where in the world were listening too. The technology worked about 90 percent of the time.

Chris Parker, for those of you who don't know is the guru of weather forecasters for sailors in the Bahamas, Caribbean, and southern North Atlantic. Chris knows about local effects, and most important he knows what the sailors really care about. If you're looking for a comfortable passage in which nobody gets seasick, you'll find Chris' information more directly applicable than other sources.

Unfortunately, skilled practitioners aren't necessarily good teachers. The technology can also get in the way, resulting in distraction. In any case, the consensus of our group was that the seminars were disappointing. Did we learn anything. Yes, we all got something, but less than we hoped for, and the usefulness of the things we learned seemed doubtful.

The webinars are also pricey. $60 for the two evenings. If it had been me alone, I would never have spent that much money. However, splitting the cost 5 ways by inviting other captains made it acceptable.

We had a bit of irony at the end. A bit of real life weather, in the form of a strong cold front, was approaching rapidly. I got a text message from my brother that it was blowing 70-90 mph in Melbourne, Florida. That made me take out my Droid and look at the weather radar. Sure enough there was a front 30 miles away and approaching rapidly. Since we had long dinghy rides to get back to our own boats, we terminated the seminar before the bitter end.

Update: After returning to Tarwathie, I continued watching the front approach on my Droid. Surprisingly, it weakened and disbursed minute-by-minute as it approached. When it did pass over 90 minutes later, it had become a much weaker front. Based on what I learned in the seminar, I conclude that there must have been converging air masses above us at the 500 mb level. So there, I did learn a little and I did apply it the same night.

Monday, January 24, 2011

I seemed to be confessing a lot of mismanagement lately. Oh well, c`est la vie.

Bob Williams of Salt Technologies is a local businessman here in Marathon. He has been presenting a number of free seminars on marine topics which are well attended and much appreciated. Two weeks ago, I went to Bob's seminar on solar and wind technology. There I learned something that totally changed the way I manage my batteries, and with great success.

First some background. We have a small 50 watt solar panel on Tarwathie. We also have two deep discharge batteries on board. Both are the biggest I could find, group 31 size, and rated 100 to 125 amp-hours each. There is no more room in our double ended boat for more batteries, so we have to live with just two.

I confess that this is the first year, out of 6 on board, that we have not bought new batteries. In every case, the batteries went bad weeks after arriving in Florida for the winter.

I know that 2-3 years seems to be the minimal life, and that many cruisers go 5-6 years before changing batteries. Somehow though, it didn't work at all for me. I might have investigated deeper except that West Marine provided me with replacement batteries free of charge three times. That insulated us from a lot of the financial consequences (e.g. $400-$500 per year). Money aside the question remained; what was I doing wrong?

Here's what Bob said at the seminar. “Lead acid batteries get sulphated and lose much of their capacity. Sulphation is caused by not charging the batteries fully. You may charge your batteries to 14 volts, but to fully charge it, you need to run your generator 7-8 hours more at only 1-2 amps charging current. Most people don't do that. The nice thing about solar panels is that they can provide that low charging current all day and thus prevent sulphation.” WOW! I didn't know that what caused sulphation, nor had I ever thought of using the solar panels that way.

At the time I went to the seminar, I was on the verge of buying new batteries for the 6th time. They had degraded so much that I could charge them up to 14.2 volts, and 4 hours and 10 amp-hours later they would be down to 11.5 volts. I had to run my Honda generator 3 times per day. I suspected sulphation, but neither my alternator, nor my shore power controller had the so-called equalizing cycle that helps desulphate the batteries. I looked around on shore but I never found anyone who could desulphate them for me. I was ready to throw in the towel.

Bob's talk turned me around. I had been managing my solar charge backward. My practice was to let the solar panel generate whatever was possible during the day, then to run my generator before sunset to finish the job, and (hopefully) give us enough juice to get through the night with the refrigerator/freezer running. Using the computer, such as to watch a movie online, was such a big drain that we would either have to run the generator again at night (not nice) or shut off the fridge for the night (also not nice).

Since the panel was so small, the difference between a sunny day and a cloudy day was that I might have to run the generator 80 minutes instead of 90. The contribution of the panel was so small, that I lost interest in maintaining it and operating it. The wiring was old and I suspected might have parasitic resistance. I had a charge controller. It prevents overcharge by cutting the solar current off if the voltage reaches 13.8. But the controller it never did anything because the battery never got close to 13.8 during the sunny part of the day. Basically, I thought the small solar panel was useless and I lusted after 240 watts of solar capacity.

After hearing Bob's talk, I changed everything around:

I put in brand new wiring to make sure that the solar panel worked at peak efficiency.

I wired in a DPDT (double-pole-double-throw) toggle switch. Now I have off-on-controlled modes of operation. In the on mode, the charge controller is bypassed.

I took more interest in the solar panel and adjusted the tilt to point at the sun 3-4 times during the day.

I ran the Honda generator in the morning until the battery voltage reached 14-14.2 volts. Then I allowed the panel to generate 2.5 amps through the day with the charge controller switched off.

The results were immediate and dramatic. On the first day, the solar panel brought the battery voltage up to 15 volts for two hours. On the second day I did the same. Since then, battery performance has been like new. Instead of 4-6 hours (10 amp-hours) between generator runs, I can now go 24-36 hours (40-60 amp-hours). WOW! That's a huge improvement.

So here's my new policy.

Run the generator in the morning.

6 days per week, leave the charge controller in the circuit.

Equalize: one sunny day per week, remove the charge controller from the circuit an allow the batteries to charge to 15 or more volts for at least one hour. That's my equalizing cycle. I also monitor the battery temperature to make sure I don't boil the water. So far, the temperature never exceeded 80F at 15 volts overcharge.

So far, things are much better. Thank you Bob Williams. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Reader Richard has a sharp eye. He asks,"One question I had is why you went through the “dismal swamp” going north and south. As someone who is unfamiliar with the ICW it seems to me that it would be better to go outside; but this apparently isn’t done. I thought it interesting that you took the side trip into the ‘dismal swamp lake’ on your trip north."

Your observation is correct Richard. We did go on the outside around Hatteras our first year, but since then we know better. There are three reasons.

Cape Hatteras, and the nearby Diamond Shoals are know as the graveyard of the Atlantic. Sometimes the Gulf Stream comes in close to shore there. If a northerly gale comes along in that case, the waves can be mountainous.

Of course the weather isn't always bad. That first year in 2005, we sailed from Charleston SC to Norfolk, VA nonstop. We passed close in to Diamond Shoals the the weather was lovely.

The inland waters of North Carolina are a delight. That includes the Dismal Swamp Canal. Sailing there is one of our favorite times of the year. We would hate to miss it.

Pacing: Because of hurricanes, we try to not arrive in Florida before November 1, and we leave in the spring before June 1. Actually, our insurance company required that. Other cruisers have even more restrictive clauses in their policies. Most cruisers start moving northward in March.

We also learned the hard way that we must leave Lake Champlain to head south around Labor Day targeting arrival in Florida by November 1. If we delay 2-4 weeks later than that, the weather deteriorates rapidly. It can get very cold in the Carolinas and gales start blowing making it impossible to get offshore. Every year, we meet first time cruisers who don't make it to Florida until December. Almost all of them report that they froze on the way down.

On the other side, it is best to not arrive in northern waters too early in the spring because the water temperature is still cold. Twice we went to Maine for the summer. Both times we avoided most of the fog by arriving no earlier than August 1.

Between the departure and arrival constraints, you can see that there is a bias toward prolonged north south migration passages and a a bias against sailing past Cape Hatteras on the outside. Some cruisers enjoy spending that time in leisurely travel up and down the ICW. They may travel only 20 miles per day and sample every stop. Libby and I prefer to spend more of the time in North Carolina.

Friday, January 21, 2011

In 2008, I wrote a post that quoted the lyrics of Eileen Quinn's song Tarpit Harbor. I recommend Eileen's songs. Find her web site here where you can buy CDs. Anyhow, the situation today is so similar that it bears repeating.

TARPIT HARBOUR

Well the holding is good and the water's pretty clean it's an easy dinghy ashore the French bread is fresh and the laundry is cheap there's a well stocked hardware store feels so familiar, almost like home and I can't quite rememberwhat I left home for

Chorus:Tarpit Harbourhas sucked down my anchorand with it my will to be freethere's some what goes sailingI seem to go anchoring stuck in the muck this side of the sea.

Monday there's movies Tuesdays the potluckWednesdays I play volleyballthere's the luncheon on Thursday happy hour Fridays Saturday the market's got my favorite stallSundays I look at my list of boat projectsthen lie down and try to recover from it all

Chorus: tarpit harbour ....

well I'd have been long gone if I hadn't been waitingon boat parts from overseasnow my tools are all rusted autopilot's bustedand the freezer refuses to freezebut I would have remedied all of these problems if I wasn't so busy shooting the breeze

Where's the similarity? Let's see. Today is the SSCA luncheon. Tomorrow, snorkeling and the farmer's market, Sunday we play Balderdash. Monday is wine tasting. Tuesday we stock up on borrowed DVDs from the library. Wednesday is the meet-and-greet pot luck,followed by a jam session by The Barnacles. Thursday is Libby's day to volunteer at the library. Friday afternoons are free seminars on marine subjects. Wednesdays Libby teaches other women how to make pine needle baskets. We check mail several times per week, and we can order stuff online and give them a snail mail address to send to. Every day we note what grocery items we might need and take a walk to the store. Also every day at 9 AM, we listen to and participate in the Cruiser's Net on VHF channel 68. Twice a week, Libby does a load of laundry. Most nights at sunset I grab my conch shell and blow a blast with all my might. It is a keys and Bahamas tradition. We hear a dozen or more other conch horn blasts from all directions at sunset. I have a list of 40 boat projects. I'm working on one and contemplating working on the others if only I could find the time.

Eileen Quinn certainly hit the nail on the head. Tarpit Harbor it is. By the way, Marathon, Florida, Vero Beach, Florida, Marsh Harbor, Bahamas and Georgetown, Bahamas are the four Tarpit Harbors that we're aware of.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Reader Chuck sent an email exhorting me to keep up the blog and to write from the heart without holding back. I've never written about blog censorship before so here goes.

Without conscious planning I seem to have evolved a policy about blog content. I censor in the following cases.

Libby won't let me publish anything risqué. She says, "Your grandchildren may be reading." My recent tongue in cheek name for an aircraft carrier is the only one in recent years that I slipped past her.

Privacy: Believe it or not, I sill have a sense of privacy. There are aspects of our life that I choose not to share with the world.

Last names: I don't ask people for permission to tell their stories. Therefore, should they search their own names on Google, I don't want my blog to appear in the hits. If it did, then I think those people would have cause to be mad at me. Sometimes I've violated that rule. Other times, I also obscure the first name too.

Libel: When I'm mad at a person or a local business, it is tempting to use my blog to vent my anger. However, I learned way back in the 1980s to read each email before sending it. If it sounds emotional, it is better to press delete. The written word is a poor vehicle for expressing anger. I try to follow that rule on the blog too. Ire toward the federal government is excepted.

Retractions and corrections: I'm sure that regular readers recognize that some of my posts are well thought out and edited, and others are hurried. Once in a while, I inadvertently or thoughtlessly post something that might be hurtful to others. On those cases I go back and retroactively change the post. Once I even published a public apology and retraction. I think there have been no more than 5 correction cases in 1681 posts to date.

Politics: I don't want this blog to become political but that doesn't mean that I don't have strong feelings and things to say. I follow a loose rule on political subjects; I resist 8 out of 10 urges to write a political post, and publish the other 2.

Superlatives: Long before blogging, I learned a simple rule that greatly enhanced the quality of my writing. I run a spell check, then I scan the text one more time looking for superlatives and I delete 3 out of every 4. It really works and it improves the quality of one's writing.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

According to the New York Times, the Earth's orbit wobbled enough to change the astrological signs. I used to be a Scorpio, now I'm a Sagittarius. Libby was a Sagittarius and now she's a Ophiuchus. Neither of us ever heard the word Ophiuchus before. So, what does that mean? Darned if we know. Without looking, let me guess at what all the astrologers are doing -- Wave hands, it doesn't make any difference, wave hands again. Am I right?

Right now we had another almost perfect moonrise. The moon rise about 30 minutes before sunset. That means tomorrow night it will miss again, setting about 30 minutes after sunset.

The post about homeless also gathered a few interesting comments. Who gets to define what homeless means? We all make our own definition. The authorities make theirs. The homeless must have their own. Journalists, and police no doubt have their definitions too. Here's the bottom line. Some people need help and should be helped. Some don't. Some are public nuisances. Who cares? Assigning labels to people isn't very helpful.

I like best what my friend Randy had to say about it: "I think, in a semi-conspiratorial way, that homeless is really defined by government as 'non-taxable'. No property taxes, no utility taxes, etc. If they cannot squeeze a nickle out of you because of your lifestyle, then your lifestyle must be made illegal and reasons made to force you to change it"

I also posted a copy of my homeless blog as a post on the SSCA forum. (SSCA is the association for cruisers) 88 SSCA members read that post, but only one was brave enough to write a comment. Could it be that they don't appreciate the comparison?

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A few weeks ago in Vero, I wrote that it can be hard to distinguish between cruisers and the homeless. That seemed to strike a chord with several readers. Now, thanks to the Marathon Weekly newspaper, I have some other interesting data.

There are lots of homeless people here in the Florida Keys. That should not be surprising; they come here for the same reason we do -- weather. I see them on the highway and at the library. The most colorful ones have mountains of gear piled on their bicycles and are riding south. Key West is the magnet that attracts them all; no doubt for symbolic reasons.

How can I tell the difference between homeless, cruisers, or just tourists? First, they wear warm clothes even in the afternoon of hot days. Second is the sniff test -- they don't get to shower often.

The article in Marathon Weekly told more that I wasn't aware off. The abundant mangrove forests around here are not pure nature. They are crisscrossed with trails leading to secret clearings where homeless pitch tents or simple sleep under the stars. There is also a shelter and a soup kitchen

The article mentions "Josh". He is a 33 year old homeless main who carries everything he owns in a backpack. "I just got tired of the 9 to 5 and wanted to have a simpler life. I don't have a mortgage or bills. I mean, you've seen what gas prices are doing."

The article also talks about "Bill". Bill helped build a boat in Washington and sailed to Key West. While there, someone stole his money. He got on a bike, started heading north, and made a stop in Marathon. There at the park, someone offered to sell a boat anchored in Boot Key Harbor for $1. Bill took the offer, and he's been living out here ever since. He's one of our neighbors.

"Herman" is a retired soldier who fell in love with Southern Florida. He lives on his boat here in Boot Key Harbor in the winter, but sails to Honduras every spring.

As you see, the distinction between a homeless person and a cruiser can be paper thin. That's the objective reality. It may correlate with wealth, but wealth alone can not explain it.

Subjectively, homeless people are seen as subjects worthy of pity while cruisers are seen as subjects worthy of envy. There's an enormous contradiction there. In fact, it is hard to think of a more extreme example in which objective/subjective social assessments can be so far out of synchronization.

I'm flummoxed at being able to come up with a conclusion for this article. Maybe readers can supply some via comments.

Friday, January 14, 2011

We continue to meet fascinating people among our cruising peers. Last night, we invited Maikel to dinner. Here he is on board Tarwathie.

We first met Maikel in Vero several weeks back. On that occasion though we didn't get a chance to really know him.

Maikel is cruising aboard Louise Michel, a 26 foot Pearson yacht from 1963. It's a very small boat. For part of the journey down here from Brooklyn, NY, he had his son Daniel with him, but now he's single handed. There's hardly room to turn around in that little Pearson, much less to prepare a nice dinner, so Libby thought he would enjoy a home cooked meal. He did.

It turns out that Maikel has a fascinating story. An Englishman who's lived in North America for a long time, he took an early retirement. "Dropped out" were his words. For thirty five years he traveled by land and sea. He made his living as a cook, gardener and tinker. That's right, Maikel is the first actual tinker we ever met. He moved around in a truck or by boat. He carried with him the tools to do knife sharpening. At strategic places (such as next to a general store by land, or by a public dock by sea) he would set up shop and let it be known that he would be around for several days to sharpen knives.

Wisely, he would grease the wheels, perhaps doing the knives of a local restaurant for free. That would gain the good will of a local merchant who would support his squatting for a while, plus word of mouth advertising to bring in paying customers.

Maikel said that the sharpening business left him with lots of spare time on his hands. After reading every novel in his possession twice, he started fiddling with making custom knives. After experimenting with making blades from scratch, he changed to buying knife blade blanks from a high quality manufacturer. Maikel adds custom hilts that are very nice. He sold them by word of mouth advertising. A sharpening customer would notice what he was doing, and would invite his friends to come see this curiosity and perhaps to buy. Today, Maikel is a bit more modern; he has a web site.

Maikel sailed for 20 years in the Vancouver area of British Columbia. He told us that he thought that made him an experienced sailor.

This year Maikel decided on a different adventure. He left Brooklyn headed for the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Belize and Honduras. But, he said, that he found the ICW much more difficult and challenging than he thought. His problem was that he has a small boat, with only an outboard engine. He doesn't move very fast. On the ICW in many cases the distance between secure all weather anchorages can be 35 miles or more. With the short days, he had trouble making it to the next anchorage before dark.

Unhelpfully, Libby and I explained his error. Our first year of cruising, we departed the Northeast too late. We froze all the way down and we had to dodge numerous wind storms. Since then, we learned that one must leave early enough to arrive in Florida by November 1. That means we must forgo the wonderful September and early October weather in the Northeast.

If the destination is the Bahamas, then one needs to be there before Thanksgiving. Travelling even one or two weeks later results in dramatically colder and rougher weather.

The secret is that with an early passage, the temperatures are warm and the nighttime winds mostly still. Instead of secure ICW anchorages, one can drop the hook just about anyplace outside the channel and spend the night in comfort.

Of course the other truth that Libby and I also learned, is to scale down ones ambitions. In 2005, we thought we could sail to Panama, Hawaii and Alaska in our first year.

In any event is was refreshing to meet such a colorful character. I was inspired to look up the actual definition of tinker. I was surprised to learn that it could be a synonym to cruiser, and that Tinker would be a fine name for a cruising boat.

tin·ker(tngkr)

n.

1. A traveling mender of metal household utensils.

2. Chiefly British A member of any of various traditionally itinerant groups of people living especially in Scotland and Ireland; a traveler.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

The other night we had June and Chris from Albion over for dinner. Chris complimented Libby effusively for the skill and grace she showed when rowing the dinghy. He also asked how she learned to do it. There's not much of an answer; just practice.

It surprises and amuses us when a guest on Tarwathie tries to row for the first time. Most people are amazingly inept at the start. So much so that it's comical to watch them struggle. Evidently, skill at rowing a boat is not something which comes naturally. It is not like riding a bike. It must be learned by experience. It requires coordination of back muscles, legs, arms, shoulders, and wrists, plus navigation while looking backwards.

Practice is something Libby and I both get. I estimate that we have traveled about 600 miles by dinghy in 6 years. 1/3 of that by motor and 2/3 by rowing. Therefore, each of us has around 200 miles of rowing experience. That's plenty. I think that most people could learn to be expert at it with only 10 miles of rowing experience.

No I'm not going to write an instruction here telling how to row. Few would read it, and if they did they wouldn't remember. It's something you have to learn by practice, not by reading books. I will mention only two tips.

1) The longer the oars, the easier it is. Inflatable boats tend to carry 3-4 foot long emergency oars. Those are terrible. It's impossible to row well with them. We have 7.5 foot oars, and the next time we buy new ones, I'm going to buy 8 foot oars.

2) Don't jerk. Pull steadily.

Libby is especially fond of rowing when the wind is totally still and the water surface is like a mirror. Both of us dread rowing into a stiff wind.

If you row directly in to a stiff wind, the wind pushes the boat back as you row forward. My personal limit is 30 knots. At 30 knots head wind, I can manage 2/3 miles per hour when rowing with all my strength. Stronger than 30 and my progress becomes zero or negative.

If you try to row with a strong wind blowing from the side, God help you. I find it almost impossible to keep the bow pointed in the right direction.

Rowing a bow with a strong wind behind you? I've learned to do that by turning the boat around and rowing backwards. Actually, I let the wind blow me toward the goat while using the oars just to steer.

Someday, I hope to find someone with one of those one-man racing shells and borrow it. It would be fun to see how it feels to row one of those.

The other night we had June and Chris from Albion over for dinner. Chris complimented Libby effusively for the skill and grace she showed when rowing the dinghy. He also asked how she learned to do it. There's not much of an answer; just practice.

It surprises and amuses us when a guest on Tarwathie tries to row for the first time. Most people are amazingly inept at the start. So much so that it's comical to watch them struggle. Evidently, skill at rowing a boat is not something which comes naturally. It is not like riding a bike. It must be learned by experience. It requires coordination of back muscles, legs, arms, shoulders, and wrists, plus navigation while looking backwards.

Practice is something Libby and I both get. I estimate that we have traveled about 600 miles by dinghy in 6 years. 1/3 of that by motor and 2/3 by rowing. Therefore, each of us has around 200 miles of rowing experience. That's plenty. I think that most people could learn to be expert at it with only 10 miles of rowing experience.

No I'm not going to write an instruction here telling how to row. Few would read it, and if they did they wouldn't remember. It's something you have to learn by practice, not by reading books. I will mention only two tips.

1) The longer the oars, the easier it is. Inflatable boats tend to carry 3-4 foot long emergency oars. Those are terrible. It's impossible to row well with them. We have 7.5 foot oars, and the next time we buy new ones, I'm going to buy 8 foot oars.

2) Don't jerk. Pull steadily.

Libby is especially fond of rowing when the wind is totally still and the water surface is like a mirror. Both of us dread rowing into a stiff wind.

If you row directly in to a stiff wind, the wind pushes the boat back as you row forward. My personal limit is 30 knots. At 30 knots head wind, I can manage 2/3 miles per hour when rowing with all my strength. Stronger than 30 and my progress becomes zero or negative.

If you try to row with a strong wind blowing from the side, God help you. I find it almost impossible to keep the bow pointed in the right direction.

Rowing a bow with a strong wind behind you? I've learned to do that by turning the boat around and rowing backwards. Actually, I let the wind blow me toward the goat while using the oars just to steer.

Someday, I hope to find someone with one of those one-man racing shells and borrow it. It would be fun to see how it feels to row one of those.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

It is an axiom of cruising that you must be self sufficient. Of course, that's especially true when offshore, but it's mostly true all the time. A major part of that is the ability to make repairs en route, to jury rig, or to improvise to circumvent the need for broken equipment.

It's hard to write about enroute repairs, jury rigging, or make do strategies. They are so diverse. Instead I can only write about specific cases. The story of one is below.

Last summer, in Vermont, I looked into the engine compartment one day and I was surprised to see the pan under the engine full of water. Where did that water come from.

I went up on deck and poured a bucket of water across the cockpit to see if any water leaked below. No.

I started the engine and looked inside while it was running. Bingo! There was a little fountain of water squirting from somplace at the top of the engine. Closer inspection showed that it was coming from the pipe that carries raw cooling water from the raw water pump to the heat exchanger. The pipe runs over the top of the engine. I damaged it with a kink the first time I opened the heat exchanger for inspection. Now, several years later, the kink developed a pinhole that was squirting water. There was no way to unkink the pipe. I ordered a replacement by phone, but that would take a week or more to arrive. Time for an emergency repair.

I carry some JB Weld brand Waterweld on board. It is a two part expoxy putty. When mixed, it can be molded into an opening, even under water. It cures in five minutes. To back that up, I used duck tape. I wrapped tape around the pipe four times. Then I used a hose clamp to put pressure on the tape and putty to make the repair water tight. The hose clamp also added mechanical strength. It worked fine, and would have lasted a long time.

I could also have chosen to use a length of hose to temporarily replace the broken pipe. That means that you should have things like spare lengths of hose and hose clamps on board.

I also carry a product called emergency repair tape. It is a plastic material. You stretch it to 4 times initial length, and wrap it around the broken part. It cures, very strong and water tight. It can withstand high pressures and high temperatures. This stuff is very expensive so I reserve it for true emergencies. In the case of the kinked pipe, I don't think it would have worked.

In the worst case, if we were desperate, we could have ignored the leak. The leak did not compromise the engine cooling function, and we could pump the bilge frequently while running the engine. Knowing when you can and can not ignore a problem is part of being self sufficient. It requires understanding how how things work, and what the functions of various parts are.

Knowledge, imagination, and rediness with spare parts and tools are your assets in emergency situations.

Sunday, January 09, 2011

I'm temperamentally ill suited to dueling with bureaucracies. Just the anticipation of having to knock heads with one of them makes me turn purple. My hair stands on end, my breathing becomes shallow, I sweat, I become inarticulate, and my blood pressure soars. When conflict erupts I rapidly become livid, and to control my anger I suppress myself so severely that I become mute. Needless to say, that sets me up to lose every skirmish. Sigh.

Tomorrow will be one of those dreaded days. Here's the story.

I ordered a hearing aid online. It is something I resisted doing for many years. Recently however, my hearing started deteriorating more rapidly to the point were Libby really began putting pressure on me. I've been told that an aid won't help my type of problem, so I'm skeptical that it will work. Therefore, I didn't go for the $4000 super ones for two ears. Instead, I ordered a $200 middle of the line one for one ear.

My problem is that it didn't arrive. Within 24 hours of my order, I got an email from the vendor with a shipping tracking number from the post office (USPS). I checked the number on the Internet. It says that my package was enroute as of 12/31 /10, with expected delivery 1/3/11. That date is long past.

I went to the local post office to ask. The lady there looked up on thier internal computer. The packaged was scanned "ENROUTE/PROCESSED 12/31/2010 18:52 DETROIT, MI 48233" That's one of those monster mail processing facilities. Apparently, it never left that place.

My task on Monday is to try to contact the supervisor at that mail processing facility and convince him to search their warehouse for my package. If that fails I have to fight with the hearing aid provider to get a refund. If that fails I have to deal with my credit card company to dispute the charge. Man oh man, my face is getting red already.

STOP PRESS: While writing this blog post, I decided to check the tracking number one more time. My package arrived in the Florida sorting center 1/07/2011 16:12. Hooray!

The incident shows my weakness. Just the potential of conflict with a bureaucracy screws up my emotions. I extrapolate, project, overreact, setting myself up for failure. Fortunately, the cruising life mimizes my exposure.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

p.s. I added a new "Search This Blog" feature on the sidebar at the right. I also added a link to the Marathon City Marina Web Cam. It is an excellent web cam. You may be able to see us rowing in, or on the dinghy dock, or near the marina. Tarwathie is visible in the far distance but you'll never spot her among the other boats.

It used to be that Marathon was the fishing capital of the country. Is is no longer. The story why is sad. It seems that the commercial fishing industry found out that there were lots of shrimp down here in the Hawk Channel. They started bottom trawling for shrimp. The trawl they dragged over the bottom destroyed the sea grass, leaving only pretty but dead white sand.

No sea grass, no shrimp. No shrimp, no big fish. That was the end of Marathon as a fishing paradise.

Regular readers know that I'm very libertarian at heart. There are few things that governments do that I'm not against. I must confess though that The Tragedy Of The Commons is a conundrum that we libertarians have a hard time resolving.

p.p.s. This morning we ran into a crowd of people who appeared to be running a marathon. It turned out to be the Ragnar Relay, a 192 mile race from Miami to Key West that must be completed in 24 hours. WOW! Quite impressive.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

A cold front passed through this afternoon. It wasn’t a strong one. Nevertheless, we’ve learned a bit about the local cold fronts over the years.

These cold fronts seem to come about once a week. They usually come from the Northwest. When they arrive here in southern Florida, they are very distinct. We can see them approach. A big wall of ugly black clouds approaching at about 20 mph. You can see the scud hanging down under them.
When a strong cold front passes, the wind behind the front blows parallel to the front, and it can be very violent. Indeed, there are numerous boating deaths every year in Florida as people in less seaworthy boats are overcome by post cold front gusts. A couple of years ago, we got hit by a really strong front as we were approaching the Little Shark River in the Everglades. Even though I knew what to expect, the rapidity and violence of the wind change caught me off guard.

The front passage usually brings some rain, but it doesn’t last long.

It may be my imagination, but it seems that most of the fronts arrive in the afternoon. Then, as the wind picks up the skies partially clear for a while. That leads to to best of best spectacular sunsets. Today was no exception; a brilliant rose sunset sky.

After a few more hours, the wind picks up again and brings more rain. Tonight, the rain came around 2100. It was bitterly cold rain. It felt like sleet.

Tomorrow, typically will be a nice day but breezy. The wind direction will clock around. Sometimes, the day after passage of a cold front is the ideal window for crossing the Gulf Stream.

The same fronts that pass here cross the Gulf Stream and The Bahamas. I think they increase in intensity crossing the warm water. A day after we experience a cold front and 20 knot winds here, a front will pass Georgetown in the Bahamas with winds as high as 40 or 50. That’s one of the reasons why we want to wait until spring to go there.

Central and Northern Florida experience the same fronts, but up there they often bring severe thunderstorms. In our first month on Tarwathie we got hit by unbelievable thunderstorms offshore up near Jacksonville.

Texas also sees the same fronts, and there they are most noted by precipitous drops in temperature.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

It is only natural in a blog like this to be biases in reporting one's successes and brilliance. It's harder to confess one's own stupidity and failures. I try to present it as it is, unvarnished. I don't claim to be unbiased, but I try. Today it's time for a confession -- here's the sorry story of our dinghy outboards.

For the first 2-3 years on Tarwathie, we had no motor for the dinghy. She didn't have one when we bought her. We didn't see much need. Gradually though it dawned on us that we were limiting our exploration and our fun because we never ventured more than a mile or so away from Tarwathie in the dinghy. There were beaches, creeks, side trips and excursions that we were missing because we had no motor.

I finally broke the ice by buying a used Mercury 2HP motor in Vero for $250. It gave it's share of trouble. I had to replace the gas tank, the recoil starter, and the fuel shutoff. Ultimately it was the carburetor that did it in. I would clean the carburetor and that would make it run good for a day or two at the most, then it wouldn't start again. By the way, merely having a motor caused us to stop rowing; even for short distances. That's psychology at work.

Soon after I ran into someone else at Vero who also bought a used Mercury 2HP for $100. His ran better than mine.

Eventually, I got so tired cleaning that carburetor, that we started rowing again and not using the motor at all. When Nick came to sail with us in Maine we thought that would be too limiting. We donated the Mercury to the Northport Yacht Club, and bought a brand new Honda 2HP for $750.

The Honda motor was really nice. Started fast, ran good, and made us go as fast as we like. Best of all, it weighed only 26 pounds so that it was easy to lift up on deck. The bad part was that the strength needed to start it was too much for Libby. It always started for me on my first (strong) pull, but almost never started for Libby's repeated (weak) pulls.

After one year with the Honda, we had an accident. The dinghy wrapper got wrapped around the propeller and that pulled the whole dinghy, motor intact, under water. Read the blog post here. It cost me $250 for a Honda Dealer to make it run again. But it didn't run 100% right. The centrifugal clutch seemed to have water in it. It slipped. I just hoped it would eventually dry out and ignored it.

A year later, in Vero, one day I was getting out of the dinghy climbing on board Tarwathie. As I did that, the Honda jumped off the transom of the dinghy and plunged to the bottom. Oh no. The hold down screws must have come loose. Our friend Peter got his scuba gear and found the motor for us and for $200, a local mechanic treated the motor and made it run well. Once again, there was water in the clutch.

Last summer, in New York, the Honda quit entirely. The motor would run but the propeller wouldn't move. I took it to a mechanic near Albany. He said, $400 for a new clutch and bearings. I declined the repair and paid him $100 for taking it apart as a diagnostic. That was dumb. I knew it was the clutch, I shouldn't have asked him to "look at it" I should have asked "how much for a new clutch?" I ordered new clutch plates and a bearing online. Last summer in Vermont, I took it apart to put in the new parts. I was appalled to find that the entire lower half of the engine including all the assemblies around the clutch were so corroded that they would soon turn to dust. Also the bolts that fasten the engine to the casing were also so rusted they would turn to dust too. Very bad material management on the part of Honda. I tossed the whole thing in the trash.

Last month, here in Marathon we bought a used Nissan 3.5 for $450. We bought it from a father son team that sells used outboards over the VHF cruiser net. I had heard that they buy old motors, fix them up and resells them. The price is going up. The Nissan 3.65 is exactly the same engine as the Mercury 2.0 that we bought for $250 several years ago; top dollar for such a motor.

The Nissan was trouble. The gas tank leaked so badly that half the fuel emptied in 15 minutes. The motor stalled every few minutes when running. There was no mechanism to tilt the motor up. I called the guy and he agreed to fix it, no argument. Now, three weeks later it still isn't working. I've heard only a string of reasons why they haven't managed to get replacement points and condenser.

They provided us with a 5HP Nissan as a loaner while we waited. It was much too heavy for the boat. Starting it and running it was trouble and Libby could never manage it. Finally, the loaner stopped working too -- dirty carburetor I think.

Yesterday I told the father that I was out of patience and wanted out of the deal. He agreed without argument. We made a date to give back the loaner and to get a refund. A few minutes ago, we met and concluded that transaction.

So, as of right now, we've spent $2,300 on outboards over several years (minus a $450 refund, so $1,850 spent). Now we're back to rowing. If that isn't mismanagement of the first order, nothing is.

By the way, there is a benefit to rowing. I was recently complimenting Libby on her fine form which seems to improve with age. She remarked that rowing is like the exercises she did in high school. Back in 1959-63 the girls in FM High gym class were taught the chant, "We must. We must. We must develop the bust. Bigger. Better. Then you can wear a sweater." Perhaps our lack of an outboard is a blessing after all :)

Sunday, January 02, 2011

I've heard it said that the Florida Keys are a haven for tacky. There's a lot of truth to that. The beauty here is in the water, not on land. The land-based natural and man-made beauty here is tacky and boring. The appeal comes from two things 1) friendliness 2) Weather. Starting New Years Day, the weather turned beautiful once again. That's what we came here for.

New Year's Eve, we went to Key's Fisheries for a little celebration. That was the first time we've been ashore after dark since coming here. Surprise, the Christmas Decorations. Not only are dolphins, jellyfish and palm trees non-traditional, but the one place in town really decorated was the Keys Electric Coop office and electric substation (below). That may be tacky, but we thought it looked really nice. Whoever did it did a good job.